The Visiting Scientists

Jennifer Lopez is the Founder of Odyssey Space, with over 15 years of experience in space science and technology, she has led groundbreaking projects in planetary exploration, human spaceflight, and space habitation. Previously, she served as a NASA Program Specialist, modernizing human space exploration efforts for Artemis and managed space-based R&D at the ISS National Laboratory. A U.S. State Department speaker, Lindblad Expeditions photography expert, Jennifer is a National Geographic Explorer and NASA Honor Award recipient.

Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, a team of students, faculty and staff building and flying advanced technology and innovative ideas for space exploration. Cody began at MIT as a Fulbright Scholar and completed her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2023 focusing on enabling a permanent human presence on the Moon. Cody is also completing a Ph.D. in Geology and is an outdoor enthusiast.

Research Overview

Capturing the Moon is part of an ongoing investigation of the use of virtual reality for Lunar and planetary surface exploration. Current low-resolution 3D imagery of the Lunar south pole limits our ability to optimize for surface exploration and science. High-resolution depth data will improve characterization of the surface to prepare for EVAs, help with planning, and amplify science returns. With high-resolution 3D imagery of the Lunar south polar surface, we can also build detailed virtual environments. Scientists and astronauts can experience a more intuitive view of the lunar surface within these virtual spaces, which can enhance scientific interpretation, exploration planning, and astronaut training. Finally, virtual reality has incredible power to inspire the public – these virtual environments will bring the world with us to explore the Moon.

The RESOURCE team, in collaboration with NASA Ames and Lunar Outpost, prepared the Microsoft Azure Kinect, a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) RGB plus ToF camera (RGBD camera), for Lunar rover exploration missions to integrate depth-mapping into a VR platform. The VR platform focuses on cm-scale resolution imagery and depth-data for geological and scientific analysis of the Lunar surface. Using the Microsoft Azure Kinect, a COTS RGBD camera, we were able to quickly adapt the hardware for a near-term Lunar mission while minimizing the normally exorbitant cost of Lunar surface data collection hardware development. By using a COTS part with integrated ToF and RBG imaging we also reduce the processing required to align different camera view fields and positions when rendering the VR environment. The RESOURCE team developed the hardware, software, and concept of operations for the modified COTS RGBD camera, which is manifested on a Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission onboard a Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover. This will be the first ToF camera on the Lunar surface and will test the capabilities of this technology at the Lunar south pole to provide a framework for low-cost depth-data collection for future CLPS missions. The camera is manifested on the Nova-C lander, which flies on the Intuitive Machines mission IM-2, landing in the Lunar south polar region for a mission duration of 14 days (one Lunar daylight cycle).

Progressing this work, we have since experimented with state-of-the-art near-field-of-view cameras in Lanzarote, Spain, exploring the use of this technology for future Lunar lava tube exploration, and are now taking this tech to Antarctica to continue our development and testing. This work will also benefit the Earth Mission Control project, providing a high-resolution digital twin of this protected environment.  This will allow more of the world to see and understand this fragile environment without increasing the human presence. 

Explore Further Capturing the Moon projects